Japanese schoolboy killer in China executed

According to a diplomatic source on Monday, a Chinese man who was found guilty of fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen, southern China, in September has been put to death.

For killing the boy, who was the son of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, close to a Japanese school in the southern city, Zhong Changchun was given a death sentence in January.

According to the source, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing was notified by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday that the man had been put to death.

At a court hearing on January 24, the Jiangxi Province man stated that he wished to communicate with the victim’s family and the Japanese Embassy in China. However, he did not specify that he had singled out Japanese citizens, according to Ambassador Kenji Kanasugi.

Zhong attacked the boy after buying a knife to “draw online attention” through the assault, the envoy quoted the court ruling as saying. The boy died the following day after being stabbed on his way to the Japanese school in Shenzhen.

The stabbing occurred on the 93rd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of a railroad track near Shenyang, which marked the beginning of the Manchurian Incident that led to Japan’s invasion of northeastern China.

Last week, Japanese government officials said a Chinese man convicted of killing a Chinese woman and injuring two Japanese nationals in a knife attack last June at a Japanese school bus stop in Suzhou near Shanghai had been executed.

The two deadly knife attacks sent shockwaves through Japanese communities in China. Tokyo has repeatedly asked Beijing to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals living in the country.